K-1 Grand PrixK-1 is a combat sport that combines stand up techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Savate, San shou, Kickboxing and traditional Boxing to determine the single best stand-up fighter in the world (the "1").

Im with ya man, I knew very little about the guy myself. I bet on Kang winnin, just cuz Id never really heard much about Akiyama....B-Real seemed very confident in the guy and bet a good 10 million points on him in vbookie...which paid off tremendously! If anythin he seems to be in the know...along wit Damone as you well might have predicted.

That was nice of you to do that, you didn't need to. Thank you.

This isn't really a suprise to me. I have been saying Akiyama would be great in the UFC for a long time now. I've always wondered why nobody has ever really agreed with me and it would seem that it's because nobody ever knew who he was which is understandable and a lot of people do know who he is now, which is good.

Especially considering how hazy the middleweight situation is, I don't see why the UFC brass wouldn't be interested. As already noted, the talent pool in K-1 is more than a little shallow, so he doesn't have very many fights there. Minowa, maybe?
None of his pro fights have been in the cage, mind you, but that might not be a problem if he prepares.
Anyone know what his contract status is?

Not everyone wants to be in the UFC ya know. I would think he'd fit fine in K-1, I mean I'm sure he'd rather stay in asia where he is famous and all then in America where drunken hicks would boo the shit out of him.

Of course. All I'm saying is he'd be a nice acquisition for them. Dana would be smart to go after a guy like that.
I can't see a guy like him getting booed. He likes to stand and bang, has great takedown defence and he's a finisher.